Cotton futures jumped to a record for the second straight day on speculation that global supplies will fail to keep pace with rising demand in China, the world’s largest user.

China’s custom agency said today that imports in November surged 31 percent from October. Shandong, the country’s second- biggest producing province, said on Dec. 17 that output dropped 22 percent this year from 2010. In India, the world’s No. 2 grower, production will be less than forecast, an industry group said yesterday.

“The crops are disappointing,” said Robin Rosenberg, a futures strategist at PFGBest, a brokerage in Chicago. “Prices will go even higher.”

Cotton for March delivery advanced by the exchange limit of 5 cents, or 3.2 percent, to close at an all-time high of $1.5912 a pound at 2:30 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The price has more than doubled this year, heading for the biggest annual gain since 1973.

“It’s not just new buyers that are driving prices up,” Rosenberg said. Investors unwinding bets on falling prices also helped support futures, he said.

Cotton may rise to $1.75 in a few weeks, he said.

Australian production this season may total 3.8 million bales, with some reduction to the forecast possible because of excess rains and flooding, National Australia Bank Ltd. said in a report today. “Indications suggest that crop loss is not major,” the bank said.

Stockpiles in the U.S., the biggest exporter, are forecast to plunge for a third straight year to the lowest level since at least 1960, government data show.